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User blog:Raidra/Cliches I Hate
Yesterday I recorded a two-part video about cliches I hate. I decided to post a list with some description here (The videos have more description and analysis). This list ended up having thirteen entries. This list covers multiple genres, but there are one or two that are often associated with horror. Covered in first part *They’re telling the truth, but no one believes them- This appears a lot in scary stories and it’s frustrated me since childhood. It can also get absolutely ridiculous (For instance, someone can see an object float by itself and still get angry at the protagonist for suggesting something weird is going on even though they saw with their own eyes something weird is going on). *No one trusts the character with a sterling record- The detective solves cases week after week after week, yet still gets demeaned and treated as ridiculous for offering theories as to what happened in the case of the week. Good Tails Doll rightly pointed out that in real life, people would trust a detective with that much experience and expertise. It would be satisfying for the detective to tell the critics, “Look, I’ve solved hundreds of cases! What is wrong with you?!” *The protagonist can never be wrong- This is a counterpoint to the last entry. The hero is never allowed to be wrong or fail in any way. The result is an unrealistic and boring character no one can relate to. *They make everyone else look mean to make one person look kind- All the heroes are normally presented as good and caring, but suddenly they’re portrayed as mean-spirited and cold so that one character can look good. Instead of demonizing established characters, the writers should just show the one character being kind, helpful, caring about justice, etc. *The superhero/heroine sleeps around and/or is a party animal- This is one that’s appeared in some modern comic books, and it’s pointless. Not only that, it’s dangerous. If you wouldn’t want a police officer to show up hungover, why would you want a superhero doing that? *Someone hates the character for no reason- It’s often the result of a misunderstanding the hater never tries to resolve, and it’s definitely annoying. Covered in second part *The character has to apologize even though they didn’t do anything wrong- They did nothing wrong, and yet there’s a perception they should apologize. No, don’t apologize if you didn’t do anything. *They treat women as brainless and obsessed with men or men as brainless and obsessed with women- No. Just no. There’s so much that’s wrong with this. It’s disgusting and empowers sexist, creepy people. *The “heroes” are selfish brats- For reference, see just about every Schneider’s Bakery show and many modern Disney sitcoms. *The character goes through trauma and either has instant recovery or ends up institutionalized for life- This is unrealistic and disrespectful in so many ways. It’s sad that so many writers seem to think those two extremes are the only options when that’s far from the case. *People with definite beliefs are fanatics- No matter how mainstream or obscure someone’s beliefs are, the writer depicts everyone with those beliefs as a cultist or a terrorist. Even something like the music or shows someone likes can make them vilified. For instance, look at how badly anime fans are treated in a lot of media. *The fatal change of heart- Roger Ebert used this phrase for when a villain decided to reform and then was immediately killed off. This cliché wastes potential and also sends a bad message. *The idiot plot- This is another one from Roger Ebert and it describes a plot with issues that could easily be resolved if every character weren’t an idiot. Please share cliches you hate in the comments below. Category:Blog posts